Social and Emotional Learning Interventions for Students on the Autism Spectrum

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine which if social and emotional behavior interventions would reduce aggressive behaviors in students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Students with ASD rely on structure and routine as well as direct instruction to be successful. There are many researched methods for intervening and teaching students with ASD how to manage their emotions and behaviors. In this study, the focus was on a social and emotional intervention program called Conscious Discipline. The study was a pre-test/post-test design with data taken on aggressive behaviors for two weeks during the pre-test and three weeks during the post-test. The instrument used to conduct this study was a tally sheet that the teacher used to record varied aggressive behaviors for the selected students. The results of the study show that the aggressive behaviors decreased for students after the intervention was put into place, indicating a positive result from the implementation of the Conscious Discipline program. In the future, various studies should be conducted with a larger number of students and others with varying age differences in the sample, to improve the chance of showing significance.